Environment     

Poison fears as dead fish found

Updated: 2011-09-14 By

• Environmental watchdogs yesterday began an investigation after hundreds of dead fish were found floating in a local river.

  Hundreds of dead fish?are found floating in Pujiang, Shanghai on Sept. 11, 2011.?[why.com.cn]

  A photograph, believed to have been uploaded online yesterday afternoon by a witness, showed the bodies of many small fish in Pujiang Town of Minhang District.

  This raised concerns of pollution or poisoning among nearby residents.

  Some witnesses said around 133,000 square meters of the waterway were affected.

  "We have sent investigators on the scene to collect water samples to determine whether the fish deaths are a result of poisoning," Liu Jiaxin, deputy director with the district's environmental watchdog, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

  The creek attracts fishermen who are mostly migrants, said nearby residents.

  Some residents claimed they witnessed a man putting a substance into the water several days ago, after which fish quickly came to the surface.

  They said he collected only the bigger ones, leaving behind the smaller fish.

  Illegally fishing and deliberately polluting local waterways are punishable.

  The river is not used as a source of tap water.

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